Boxcar guard



l1 6 i w '3 5mm KUUM .Egb. 22, 1949. M. DYKE BOXCAR GUARD Filed Jan. 22, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ,Egxa.

INVENTOR.

T 30 ,ZIilfan Dyke fimlw KM ATTORNEY.

M. DYKE BOXCAR GUARD Feb. 22,

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 22, 1945 IN VEN TOR.

Milion D /te A 7" TORNEY.

Patented Feb. 22, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOXCAR GUARD Milton Dyke, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application January 22, 1945, Serial No. 573,926

2 Claims.

My invention relates to a boxcar guard and it is an object of my invention to provide effective means for preventing the injury of packages or the spilling of bulk contents in a boxcar, upon sliding the boxcar door.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for holding the packaged or bulk contents of a boxcar, away from the doors, despite jostling during transit, in order to facilitate the opening of the boxcar doors without disturbing the contents of the car, when the car arrives at its destination.

Other objects reside in the provision of simple means to carry out the foregoing objects, which can be easily removed when it is desired to unload the car, and thereby to use the guard means repeatedly.

Further objects are to provide means of the character mentioned above which can be applied after the car has been loaded, and to provide such means that may be applied to the boxcar without piercing the guarding media with nails or screws.

A still further object is to provide a guard media that will resist creeping sideways in the doorway of the boxcar.

My invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. However, the drawings merely show and the following description merely describes embodiments of the present invention, which are given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of a boxcar containing an embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section, taken on the line 2-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section, taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one form of my guard.

Fig. 5 is an outside perspective view of an alternatev construction with the boxcar door open.

Fig. 6 is a broken perspective view of a modified construction oi my invention.

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of another modified form.

Fig. 8 is a broken perspective view of still another modified construction.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the reference number l0 generally designates a boxcar to which my invention has been applied. An opening H on one side of the car is closed by a door I 3. The opening on the opposite side, indicated at I4, is closed by a door IS. The jambs at the sides of the opening I2 are suggested at l6, while the jambs at the sides of the opening M are indicated at H. Before the car is loaded, one of my guards I8 is placed across the rear doorway I 4. The jambs l I space the guard l8 from the door l5. Fig. 4 illustrates the arrangement of my guard across the rear doorway. The word "rear is used to designate the door and doorway on the side away from the side where the loading takes place, but it is to be understood that the car may be unloaded from either side when it reaches its destination, in a manner hereinafter described.

The guard I8 is preferably of a fabric material. Heavy canvas or duck has been found desirable. As shown in Fig. 5, the body portion l8 may have hems l9 and 20 at the top and bottom thereof on the outer side, facing the door. It is believed clear without further illustration that other convenient pockets may be employed at a wide variety of positions on the guard. Any suitable means may be used to hold the guard in position. Boxstrapping material is shown in Figs. 1 to 6, rope in Figs. 7 and 8. Box-strapping material is known by that name to those skilled in the art. Sufiice to say that it consists of elongated strips of flexible metal that are cons derably wider than their comparative thinness. For the rear door a continuous strand of the box-strapping, or other suitable material, is passed through the hems l9 and 20. and extends across the jambs I! at the sides of the doorway. as shown at M, and fastened or anchored to the inside face of the boxcar. as suggested at 22. The upper strap is num ered 23, while the lower one is numbered 24. in Fig. 4. A cen er strap 25 may a so be employed. The hems fit rather snugly around the strap material in order to prevent puckering and creeping of the guard along the straps. Spaced loops or small loop-type pockets 2B are generally suflicient to hold the center strap in place.

The hems l9 and 20 have openings 21 and 28 at their middle portions, respectively, exposing the strap material 23 and 24.

In practice, if the rear door It happens to be the one that is opened for unloading, when the cara i aches its destination, the guard I8 is easily removed by cutting the strapping material between the loops 26 and in the exposed portions in the openings 21 and 28. The body |8 may then be pulled out of place, allowing the strap mateterial to slip from the hems and loops.

To provide a guard for the front doorway 12, upper, lower and center strap segments 29, 30 and 3| are placed across the jambs |6, as shown at 33, in Figs. 2 and 3, and then are fastened or anchored to the inner face of the boxcar, as suggested at 32. The loose ends of the straps are allowed to hang outside the car until the same is unloaded. Thereupon the loose ends 29 and 39 are inserted through the hems until the ends overlap at the openings 21 and 28. These overlapping ends are bound together by any suitable binding means 34. A number of suitable binding means are on the market and are well known to those skilled in the art, so detailed description of the same is believed unnecessary. The loose ends 3| are passed through the loops 25 and similarly bound together in overlapping relation, as suggested at 35.

In practice, when the car reaches its destination, if it is unloaded from the same door through which it was loaded, in the manner explained, then the straps 29, 30 and 3| may be cut and the body member l8 drawn out of the car, permitting the cut straps to slip through the hems and loops.

It is to be noted that both of the guards, to-

wit, for both the front and back doors, hold the contents of the car away from the door, so that the door may be slid closed and open without the contents of the car coming in contact with the door. Thus fragile packages are not torn or ripped open by contact with the door sliding open.

The form shown in Fig. 6 is particularly useful for bulk material that is being shipped, such as cement, gypsum, plaster, grain, etc. The guard may be bisectional in this form, if desired. Whether sectional or a single piece of material, the lower portion of the guard has a flap 36 that lies on the floor 31 of the car, in order that the bulk material may lie on the flap and prevent leakage thereunder. If the guard is sectional, it may comprise a lower section 38 which carries the fiapand an upper section 39 that hangs down in overlapping relation on the side facing the inside of the car. In the sectional form, each section has the top, center and bottom straps 40, 4| and 42, which are anchored across the jambs in the manner shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The upper straps 40 may be held in hems 43 in the sections 38 and 39 similar to the hem l9, while the lower strap 42 in the section 39 may be held in a hem 44 similar to the hem 28. Suitable loops 45 may be employed to hold in place the middle strap 4| of the upper section 39 and the center and lower straps 4| and 42 of the lower section 38.

In use, cutting of the straps in the form shown in Fig. 6, when the car reaches its destination, permits removal of the sections 38 and 39, so that the car can be unloaded.

In the form shown in Fig. '7, the body 46 of the guard has series of loops 41 and 48 along the top and bottom edges of the guard, to receive supporting means 49 and 50. Loops are disposed along the central portion of the body 46 for holding a center supporting means 52. While ropes are shown as the supporting means 49, 58, and 52, it is believed clear without further illustra- 4 tion that strapping material may be employed therefor.

In use, the form shown in Fig. 7 is held in position by the supporting means, and in order to unload the car, the supporting means are cut and the guard 46 drawn therefrom.

The form shown in Fig. 8 combines the use of a rope 53 with a hem 54 similar to the hem I9 of the form shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In each instance, the hem is preferably rather snug around the supporting means (strappin material or rope), so as to resist puckering and creeping of the guard along the supporting means. In the form shown in Fig. 8, the supporting strapping material 55 in the loop 56 is cut to remove the guard. The rope is for stiffening purposes only in Fig. 8, and not used for supporting means therein.

It will be noted in Figs. 2 and 4 to 6, that the supporting means or strapping material holds the body member against the door jambs. Thereby the supporting or strapping material puts friction between the body member and the door jambs to tend to hold the body member of the guard in position. The body member is stretched as tight as possible when placing same in position.

While I have illustrated and described what I now regard as the preferred embodiments of my invention, the constructions are, of course, subject to modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. I, therefore, do not Wish to restrict myself to the particular forms of construction illustrated and described, but desire to avail myself of all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A guard for a boxcar doorway comprising a flat pliable guard member of a length sufl'lcient to span across the doorway and to overlap door jambs framing said doorway, tubular means along the upper and lower marginal edges of said guard member, said tubular means each having at least one intermediate opening facing toward the outside of the boxcar, longitudinally spaced tubular means on the outer-facing side of the guard member intermediate the marginal tubular means, and a longitudinal element extending through each tubular means to support the guard member and secured to said door jambs, said longitudinal elements being severable at the mentioned openings in the marginal tubular means and between the spaced tubular means, whereby said guard member is adapted to be bodily removed from the severed portions of the longitudinal elements for subsequent re-use.

2. A guard for a boxcar doorway comprising a fiat pliable guard member of a length sufficient to span across the doorway and to overlap door jambs framing said doorway, tubular means along the upper and lower marginal edges of said guard member, said tubular means each having at least one intermediate opening facing toward the outside of the boxcar, longitudinally spaced tubular means on the outer-facing side of the guard member intermediate the marginal tubular means, and a longitudinal element extending through each tubular means to support the guard member and secured to said door jambs, said longitudinal elements being severable at the mentioned openings in the marginal tubular means and between the spaced tubular means, whereby said guard member is adapted to be bodily removed from the severed portions of the 2,482,809 5 8 longitudinal elements for subsequent re-use, UNIT TENT each longitudinal element comprising a. pair of ED STATES P S overlagplng and connected members, one ex- Number Name Date tendlffg from each door jamb across the door 1,406,301 Timmerman 1922 opening 5 2,051,643 Morrison Aug. 18, 1936 MILTON DYKE. 2,116,260 Corkran May 3, 1938 2,203,107 Schmltz June 4, 1940 REFERENCES CITED 2,310,860 Moon Feb. 9, 1943 The following references are of record in the file of this patent: 1 

